Susan Omand reads The Kill Screen collection from Mike
Garley and waits for her phone to explode...

I’ve been following the work of Mike Garley for a while,
ever since I was lucky enough to meet the man behind The Kill Screen a couple
of years ago at Nottingham Comic-con so, when I heard that the comic series was
being made into a hardback collection, I jumped at the chance of reviewing it.

Set two years after a cataclysmic technological event known
as ‘The Kill Screen’, a computer virus now infects anyone who comes into
contact with it via technology, phones or wi-fi. Humanity is left on the brink of extinction, caught
in a fight against the virus and each other, as sides start to band together – those
infected with the virus lose their humanity and join with either the Blue
Team or the Red Team, locked in some kind of technological deathmatch with each other, with those
still uninfected by the virus, humans, left to fight for survival. The main story in
the comics follows Chris and a team of human survivors as they both track and are
tracked by a tech-created leader, CAT, and his followers after meeting up with two more
humans, Max and Elle, and attracting more attention than they should.

First published in 2014, I think The Kill Screen story,
written by Garley, was ahead of its time as it’s only now that a gaming/AI/tech/reality
crossover idea is becoming popular, especially in independent films. The
difference here is that, instead of computers taking over the world themselves,
technology is using humans as a conduit. Various reviews I read of the comics at the time tried to pigeonhole it as sci-fi, horror, action thriller but to my mind the
story is far more social comment than any of that, hugely character driven, with
an impressive diversity within the group of human survivors. Whether or not
that is intentional I don’t know but it is handled incredibly well and pushes a
hugely positive message by making the physical, sexual, racial and other, usually discriminatory, differences between people inconsequential to their infection or survival. I also get a strong political undertone from the story, in the
same way that you get from classic dystopian work such as 1984 but that may be me
reading too much into it. Joshua Sherwell’s art in the comic too is utterly
unique, using vivid pixelation to represent the virus itself as well as
recognisably tech symbols, such as wifi connectivity, pause symbols and such to
lift the comic away from the norm. I
also really loved the small details, like the fact that a health bar was
measured in cigarettes smoked, how a page was panelled in the form of Tetris tiles and I must admit I was caught out by the “loading screen” circle at the
start of the collection - as I was reading it as a pdf on screen and actually
waited to see if a page would load. Fair play guys, fair play. Even the lettering in the comic, done by Mike Stock, adds to the story, with changes in colour (for example Followers is always in blue and Unfollow is always in red) and typeface (CAT speaks in a digital looking typeface) changing the voices and atmosphere in my head as I read.

So what if you bought all four The Kill Screen comics when
they originally came out, why should you buy this collection as well? Because of all the extras! There’s so much
more here than just the brilliant comics, which only take up half the massive
230 plus pages in this collection. Not only is there the very clever Foreword
from “TV and films’ James Moran” which really sets the tone for the collection,
there are seven, yes SEVEN, additional short comics all based around the
characters and events in the main comics. From a one-sheet New Year page
featuring the team, through the almost “buddy movie” of Michael and Jung’s
Adventure to the poignant inevitability in the prequel, Red Team, there is
something for every facet of The Kill Screen universe. Away from the comics
style, there’s also a section of written work including scripts, including the
comic scripts themselves, notes from a proposed novel, the start of a screen-play
and other pitches. There’s also a LOT of extra artwork, with all the original
and alternate covers, concept art, character studies, storyboards and guest pin
ups, including a gorgeous one from Death Sentence London artist Martin
Simmonds.